The cause was a stroke, his family said.
For more than 40 years Mr. Littell, writing as a freelance, reported on travel for publications ranging from The New York Times and Travel & Leisure Magazine to The Athens (Greece) News. He contributed articles on voyaging and nautical history to Ocean Navigator, a national yachting publication.
In Western New York his work appeared regularly in The Buffalo News, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and The Olean Times Herald, and for 10 years he served as travel editor of The Hornell Sunday Spectator.
In addition to his travel reportage, he wrote essays and opinion columns for the Olean and Hornell newspapers as well as for his hometown weekly, The Alfred Sun.
Mr. Littell was the author of two novels, "Corruption," written under the pseudonym Ciaran Ross and issued by an internet publisher, and "Courage," written under his own name and published by St. Martin's Press.
In writing "Courage," a novel of the sea, the author drew heavily on his experiences as a merchant mariner in the years immediately after the Second World War. Six Mile Creek Press, an Ithaca, N.Y., regional imprint, brought out a collection of Mr. Littell's newspaper and magazine journalism—"Winter Passage: Essays, Memoirs, Journeys" — in 2018.
"Caroline," the author's memoir of his late wife, was released in 2021 by Jericho Hill Publishing, an independent press based in Alfred.
Alan Littell was born in New York City. He graduated from Alfred University in 1953 with a degree in sociology and in 1966 earned a master's degree in British history from Columbia University.
In the early 1960s, Mr. Littell was an assistant news editor at the Paris Edition of The New York Herald Tribune. Following his stint overseas he returned to the U.S. and worked briefly on the rewrite desk of the paper's New York edition before joining WCBS Radio, also in New York, as the station's chief editorial writer. After leaving WCBS, in 1968, he was employed for 17 years as news bureau director at Alfred University.
He began his newspaper career as a reporter for The Long Branch (N.J.) Daily Record and later worked as a reporter and political writer for The Traveler, an afternoon broadsheet in Boston, Mass.
He served for two years in the Army following the Korean War, stationed in the U.S. and Japan.
Mr. Littell was predeceased by his wife of 55 years, Caroline Byass Littell, who died in 2015. He is survived by two sons, Harry Littell of Ithaca, N.Y., and Matthew Littell of Altadena, Calif.; four grandchildren, Nora Littell, Charlotte Littell, Cameron Littell, and Mason Littell; and a brother, the novelist Robert Littell of Paris, France.
In lieu of flowers, Mr. Littell’s family suggests making a donation to the Hart Comfort House. A memorial service will be held in the spring.
Arrangements are under the direction of Olney-Foust Funeral Homes & Cremation, Crowell Chapel, 296 North Main Street, Wellsville, NY. Online condolences may be expressed at www.wellsvillefuneralhome.
